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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrK 



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How his discoveries are to be 
put into practiczJ use. — How the 
results of his forty years of ex- 
periments are to be placed within 
the easy reach of the farmers of 
the world. 



By 



^A^CtL/L, O- /3U 



^^S^tftCA^c 



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Copyright. 1911 

Oscar E. Binner Co. 
Luther Burbank's Publislicrs 

American Trust BIdg. 
Chicago, III. 



LUTHER BURBANK 

His Great Work and Its Boundless Value 



"I have heard of Burbank, just as I have heard of Edison — but what has he done 
that is of practical and lasting value?" asked a man with whom I was discussing 
Luther Burbank's work. 



Out of the results of forty years of daily achievement, it is hard to pick a single 
illustration that will answer the question: "What has he done?" 

But take for example the common potato. Thirty-five years ago potatoes were 
round, red-skinned and small. 

The potatoes you have today are long, white-skinned and large. 

You would have difficulty now in finding specimens of those little round, red- 
skinned potatoes of olden days, for the Burbank potato has become practically 
universal — it no longer pays to raise the other kind. 

Luther Burbank did three things to the potato : 

He increased its size. 

He increased the number that grow in a hill. 

And, third, he improved the quality and flavor. 

The United States Department of Agriculture at Washington, in one of its buUe- \\=fe~|[^ 
tins, has said that the Burbank potato is adding seventeen million dollars a year to V////!"'''!! 
the agricultural output of the country. 

On this basis, and remembering that Burbank products are not limited to America, 
but are, in fact, better known abroad than at home, it is easy to compute that the 
Burbank potato in the thirty-five years since its discovery, has added to farm incomes "!^ 
a grand total in the neighborhood of six hundred million dollars. 

In other words, Luther Burbank, with this one single plant improvement, has 
given the farmers of the world an added income equal to the whole estimated earn- 
ings of the Standard Oil Company since its inception. \ 

And my friend, who had eaten Burbank potatoes all of his life and who had 
never seen, tasted or even heard of any other potato, asked me what this man had 
done that was practical! 



Or, to pick at random another example : ' 

America's most precious tree, the Walnut tree, is practically extinct — at least as 
a source of marketable lumber. 



,^1 






The Walnut tree, as nature planned it, is slow to grow. 

In thirty-five years it usually reaches a height of twenty feet and a circumfer- 
ence of eighteen inches. 

Burbank has produced a walnut tree — equal, if not superior in the quality of the 
lumber — which, in only seventeen years, has attained a height of eighty feet (as 
against twenty feet in twice that long) and a circumference of seventy-two inches 
(as against eighteen inches in twice that long). 

At the cost of $2. per tree for planting, this new walnut can yield in twelve years 
a lumber value of three thousand dollars per acre. 

Or, to put it another way : in these days when forest conservation is an acute 
issue, Luther Burbank has given us a short-cut to reforestration — has enabled us to 
make good a lumber shortage, due to our own wanton recklessness — and to do all of 
this, not a generation from now, but in the mere span of a dozen years. 

Yet I am asked: "What has he done that is practical?" 



There are three billion acres of desert in the world. 

Barren, arid desert on which the highest form of vegetable life is the worthless, 
spiny cactus. 

It took the imagination of a Burbank to conceive a way to transform these three 
billion acres into productivity. 

He did it not by finding new plants which would thrive on desert soil and under 
desert conditions. 



He did it by making the common cactus which already grows there produce a 
rich, juicy fruit — and then by making the cactus thornless, he added a great forage 
crop (live stock food) after the fruit is picked. 

He so transformed the cactus that it grows thornless and covers itself with beauti- 
ful, highly colored, pear-shaped fruit — as juicy as a ripe watermelon, with a flavor 
between that and the Bartlett pear — grows them on its native desert. 

Under favorable conditions, corn produces on the basis of about one ton and a 
half of food per acre. 

Alfalfa, that wonder crop, itself, produces as high as five tons of food per 



The Burbank cactus has shown that it will produce as high as two hundred 
tons of food per acre — or, in money, it can produce $1200. worth of Denatured Alco- 
hol per acre as against $35. from an acre of Indian corn. 



I uut7 - I IB- 



If, merely by improving the common potato Burbank has created an actual 




wealth equal to that of Standard Oil, what estimate can be made of the value of this 
new Burbank food cactus, with three billion acres of unproductive land to plant 
it to? 

In the size of type in which this article is set, it would take more than ninety- 
eight pages merely to catalogue the plant experiments and improvements which 
Luther Burbank has made in the past forty years. 

Not to describe them — but merely to give their names in one-line headings. 

I could mention the chestnut seedling, bearing a crop of nuts after six months 
growth from seed — as against ten to fifteen years of an ordinary tree. 

Or the evolution of the prune resulting in increasing the crop of one State from 
sixty-five to two hundred million pounds, and enabling the United States to sell fifty 
million pounds a year to foreign countries instead of buying thirty-five million pounds 
from them. 

Or the Burbank tomato, asparagus, squash, each as wonderful in its way as the 
Burbank potato was thirty-five years ago. 

Or the crimson winter rhubarb, called the "mortgage lifter" by its growers, 
ready fully six months earlier than any other rhubarb, and of a flavor and texture 
that makes it yield a thousand dollars an acre the first year after planting — with an 
always eager market. 

Or the Burbank cherry, or the Burbank white blackberry, or the Burbank cob- 
less corn, or the Burbank thornless blackberry, or the Burbank forage grasses, 
hays, peas, beans, oats, rye, all of which have just as practical a money-meaning as 
the Burbank potato or the Burbank cactus have. 



"And my ideas of Burbank," said my friend, "have always been associated with 
such things as his Shasta Daisy — his novelties — beautiful, interesting, and valuable, 
but from a money standpoint, representing nothing practical." 

Compared with the Burbank potato, the beautiful Burbank Rose seems almost a 
frivolity. 

Yet I have the word of one florist on Long Island, New York, who says that he 
has sold from the new varieties which he has produced according to Burbank's 
advice on hybridizing, over one hundred thousand dollars worth of plants and flowers. 
(N. Y. Sun, Sept. 17, 1911.) 




How has Burbank accomplished such results? 

Partly through genius — and love for his work that has lengthened his labor , / 
period to sixteen hours a day. 

But more through patience — a patience almost beyond the understanding of man. ^ 

r 
I cannot go here into a description of his methods of working — for the same ^-^ 
reason that I cannot here catalogue all of the results that he has produced. 



m 







For Burbank is not a man of one method — his methods have been as many, al- 
most, as his results. 

But a single example may give an idea : 

Grafting one tree to another to produce a new variety of fruit, is old. 

The disadvantage being, however, that in spite of pains and care to have all condi- 
tions alike, the results of different graftings are never alike. 

The theory is, in grafting, that every possible combination of the two parents will 
eventually appear. 

Where others had grafted one or two plants, Burbank works with ten thousand 
— twenty thousand plants. 

From the results of the twenty thousand he selects perhaps five or six and 
from five or six, in ten years or twenty years, he brings forth another Burbank prod- 
uct. 

And the public, not knowing the process or the patience or the wonderful imagi- 
nation of the man, says "wonderful" — "a wizard." 

If that public could see Luther Burbank burning up ten thousand discarded 
plants — if it could see his ten thousand-dollar wood-pile that represented the failures 
necessary to produce success, it would understand more of his method. 



Mr. Burbank took a fancy to increasing the size of a certain flower. 

He made it bigger and bigger and bigger till finally its stem could not support it 
— and then he brought it down to a size which the stem would hold. 

This is a bald statement of fact, though it sounds like a miracle. 

Yet, if you knew the work involved, the skill, the time, the never-ending patience 
— it would seem no more a miracle than the results of the grafting process described 
above. 



And so on, through all of his work, will be found the same brilliant imagination, 
the same scientific thoroughness, the same years of experiment, the same Burbank 
patience — but a different method — a different way of accomplishing results. 

In every department of farming, fruit growing, flower raising and forestry, 
there are Burbank discoveries the product of his genius and patience, which will be of 
the same provable, practical benefit that the Burbank potato, in its thirty-five years 
of existence, has shown itself to be. 

* * * * * 

In Luther Burbank's files there are innumerable thousands of letters which he 
has received from people inquiring about his work. 







tefefei , 



........ JMMm ^^ 




rage seven 




The Gem Seedling Apple. 



.■5^'^ki,-. 







Mr. Burbank's Famous Old Apple Tree. Has carried over a thousand distinct varieties. 



Luther Butbank Series. 



White Blackberry. 



A Ten Thousand Dollar 
Wood Pile. 





Luther Burbank Series. 



Most of them have never been answered. 

At his home he has received as high as six thousand visitors in a single season, 
his grounds being overrun with crowds from daylight to ten o'clock at night, till 
finally he was forced to exclude worthy and unworthy alike. 

For Luther Burbank has not been in business — his farm has been an experiment 
farm — no more a nursery than Edison's laboratory has been a factory. 

Only, unlike Edison, Burbank has been so engrossed in his experiments that so 
long as the money has come in to continue them, he has never cared to take up the 
practical matter of duplicating them for the market. 

That is why my friend, and others who have heard of Burbank, have been led to 
wonder what he has done that is practical. 

And the result is that, because he has not stopped to realize the profits, he has 
been enabled to do a work infinitely more practical, infinitely more far-reaching. 

***** 



It was Elbert Hubbard who said "the finest product of the life and work of 
Luther Burbank is Luther Burbank himself." 

Some day I hope to be able to forget the achievements of Luther Burbank and 
write the simple story of his life. 

But it is the practical side of his work that claims attention now. 

The value of farm lands has increased from $15.57 per acre to $32.49 per acre — 
not in the last generation — but in the last ten years. 

The facts of the present census show it — an actual doubling of values between 
1900 and 1910. 

In other words, the average farm which, ten years ago, would have cost you 
$10,000.00 today will require an investment of $20,000.00. 



In some way or other the interest on this added $10,000.00 of cost must be 



paid. 




So far, it has been paid by the public in higher prices for food — thus, the increased 
cost of living. 

But the cost of living cannot continue to increase indefinitely — it cannot perma- 
nently stay even at its present high level. 

If it goes up, the wage earner is headed toward bankruptcy. If it goes down, 
with farm values as they now are, the farmer is headed toward bankruptcy. 

The solution lies in intelligent farming — in these discoveries of Luther Burbank 
to enable the man with an eighty-acre farm to raise 160-acre crops — which so 







increases production that the farmer can hold and increase his profits at prices which 
will, at the same time, decrease the cost of living. 

* * * * * 

Here is Luther Burbank — ^his work and methods practically a secret. 

Here is a world impatiently waiting to be informed. 

Here is the work of forty years ready for widespread dissemination. 

And here is the acute issue of the increased cost of living and the increased 
capital necessary to buy a farm. 

How shall these Burbank discoveries be put into actual money-making use? 



The Carnegie Institution at Washington, recognizing the universal value of 
Luther Burbank's records, made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars 
in 1905 for the purpose of compiling them for scientiiic purposes exclusively. 

But the scientific part of Mr. Burbank's work, important and interesting as it is, 
is not what the farmer needs. 

What the farmer needs is the practical results — and definite instructions on how 
to apply them. 

It is the difference between mathematics and accounting — between the patent 
office drawings of an invention and working blue-prints for manufacturing — be- 
tween theory emd practice. 

What the Carnegie Institution wanted would have delayed the more practical 
achievement of getting farmers everywhere using the Burbank methods. 

So Luther Burbank independent of the Carnegie Institution decided to tabulate, 
analyze and classify and explain the copious notes which he has always taken of all 
his experiments in the forty years of his work. 

To do this, not in a way to interest the scientists, for the Shasta Daisy is of 
as much interest to the scientists as the Burbank potato — but to do it in a way that 
would make the Burbank methods clearly understandable by any average farmer who 
can read simple English. 



There is already too much of the theory of farming — too little of the practice. 

Only the smallest percentage of the work of the Department of Agriculture and 
agricultural colleges in various states is ever put into actual operation. 

At these fountain heads of farming information it is possible to learn the in- 
gredients that a soil for a given purpose should possess — but there are no facilities 





rage eleven 




Royal Walnut. Will grow wherever the hardy New England Walnut thrives, eight times as last as the 
native tree. Within twelve years from planting, its lumber can yield $3,000. per acre without care or outlay 
save the cost of planting (not to exceed $2. per tree). 




Specimen of the Royal Walnut finished by the Scholle Furniture Company at Chicago. It resem- 
bles tropical mahogany, is as hard as the old-fashioned black walnut, but has a finer grain and takes a higher 
finish. This wood is worth from $200. to $700. per thousand feet board measure. 



age iweive 




Shasta Daisy at the left, its parents at the right. 




Grafting Crew at work on Mr. Burbank's Gold Ridge Farm at Sebastopol, California. 



..1 — n,..k,„i, c:.. 



for actually examining the soils that are sent in by farmers nor are farmers told 
how their soils may be analyzed or definitely improved. 

There is value in this scientific work, unquestionably — but it reaches only the 
small number of attending students, not the millions of farmers. 

And the farm problem today is an acute problem calling for an immediate answer. 

It needs not theory, but working plans — not lectures or essays or histories to 
improve the mind of the farmer, but specific, detailed instructions for making an 
immediate increase in the output of the farm. 

And this detailed specific help is in part exactly what Luther Burbank has been 
preparing during these years. 



For nearly four years I have been putting all of my time and my personal 
resources into the vast work of getting these Burbank books ready for the printer. 

If the work had not been so engrossing in its interest, and if I had not had the 
kindly presence of Luther Burbank to help me, and if I had not had daily manifesta- 
tions of that beautiful Burbank patience, it would have overwhelmed me. 

For the ceaseless activities of forty years cannot be compressed into a few pages 
of type — the subject has been so big that instead of simplifying itself into the ele- 
ments as time went on, it has grown vaster and vaster as the work has progressed. 

I have spent months with Luther Burbank, sometimes six months at a stretch — 
right there on his experiment farm, entering into his daily life. 

I have discussed methods for making the books with the best known agricultural 
scientists and with the best known book publishers, the country over. 

I have studied basketful after basketful of the letters in Mr. Burbank's files to 
see what those who had written him had wanted. 

I have requested the opinions of more than a thousand of the heaviest authorities 
in the agricultural and educational world, and as a result have been flooded with more 
than a thousand commendations and evidences of deep, widespread interest, without 
precedent in the book or any other business. 

I sent men to call on a thousand farmers and others interested in land; they 
wanted the books immediately, and there was not one exception. 

I have put every minute of these four years into the study of this, my problem. 

With the result that, not only have definite plans been matured, but the actual 
work is well under way. 



Of the Burbank books there will be five volumes covering the more important 
discoveries relating to farming, fruit growing, forestry and flower raising — the impor- 
tant things representing the net-compressed work of forty years to fit the needs of 
the average farmer — meaning by "farmer" anyone who farms the earth, whether it 
be but a ten-by-ten lawn or garden spot alongside the house, or a thousand-acre farm 
or orchard. 





For the demand for these books will not be from farmers alone, but from dwel- 
lers in small towns, country gentlemen, suburbanites, gardeners, lumbermen, orchard- 
ists, florists, and everyone, in fact, who raises things from the soil, either for profit or 
for pleasure — about 60 per cent of all humanity. 

The letters in Mr. Burbank's files prove this — and out of so many the percentage 
is reliable. 

And the fact that during the four years I have been engaged in this work, I have 
without advertisement of any kind received numerous orders from bankers, insurance 
men, big business men, railroad men, clerks, mechanics — all ravenous to learn how 
Luther Burbank could help them with their potato patches, their hedges, their flower 
beds, their shade trees, their truck gardens. 



Based on all this evidence, the decision was reached — a general set of five 
books — general in the range of its subjects, but concrete and specific in its treatment 
of them — a Burbank Library crammed full of practical, working data of the broadest 
interest to the greatest number. 

The thought is that in these books the soil-tiller, large and small, in every corner 
of the world, numbering hundreds of millions, can find the solution to most pressing 
problems and much other valuable matter beside — enough at least to become an 
incentive to following up the study of other Burbank discoveries. 

That the owner of a home in a small town may find what he wants to know 
about the care of his house garden. 

That the landlord of a country estate may be able to learn what he requires about 
his flowers, his fruits, his forest trees, his lawns, his fields, his gardens. 

That the city man who owns no place, may satisfy his desire to understand 
Luther Burbank's methods as a matter of general knowledge and interest in the 
world's progress. 

In other words, the range of these five popular priced books is so broad that 
their interest is all-embracing — yet the plant improvements they describe are so spe- 
cific that none can fail to follow and profit by them. 



.^" 



Yet these five books which will be required by many millions of people are but 
the beginning of the dissemination of agricultural instruction by the Oscar E. Binner 
Company. 

Following them there must be prepared several thousand separate handbooks, 
ranging in size from a tiny bulletin-pamphlet to two-to-three-hundred-page volumes, 
each dealing in the fullest possible measure with some one specific subject — some for 
general sale — others to be used as school-texts. 

FoUowmg these, it will probably be necessary to make up a series of four or 
five volume libraries, each specializing on some subject such as forestry, grains, 
grasses, fruits, flowers, vegetables, etc. 













Page fifteen 




Early Cherry — natural size. Brought at wholesale 75c per pound in carload lots. Sold at retail at from 
$1 .50 to $3.10 per pound in ten pound boxes. 




Cherry Tree bearing over two hundred varieties. 



I ...k— D...U._L C. 



Western Land Products Exposition 

Omaha, January 18-28, 1911 



Courtesy "Omaha Bee" 




The traveling lectures and exhibits of the Oscar E. Dinner Co. — Luther Burbank's Publishers — will 
graphically bring the actual products of Luther Burbank's work direct to the most concerned people, furnishing 
both exaunple and incentive to improve and intensify in the treatment of the soil. They will aid materially in 
selling the books which will tell the people what to do and how to do it. 



Lulher Burbank Se 



Page seveuteen 



The steps in the publication and promulgation of these various works are clear 
and logical. 

First, the whole effort must be to disseminate the initial five-volume work as 
widely as possible, not only here at home, but in all nations abroad, for Luther 
Burbank's work is one that knows neither language, nor race, nor high civilization. 

Just as food is and always will be the prime requisite for human life, just so must 
Luther Burbank's work be as universal as human life itself. 

Wherever these five books find their way, there will spring an immediate demand 
for more of the knowledge necessary to enable soil-tillers to lift mortgages and double 
incomes without investing more money. 

To fill this demand within a year or so, the work of publishing the monographs 
and text books will proceed. 

And following these, the specialized libraries will come as a matter of natural 
course. 

But the first work — and the only work to be considered right now — is the pub- 
lication and dissemination of the initial five books. 

I have said that these five books will be offered at a popular price. 

They will be big, handsome, substantial books filled throughout with costly col- 
ored printing. 

Substantial because they are not merely books to be read — they are books to be 
thumbed over and learned by heart. 

Filled with color printing because color plays a big part in the scheme of Luther 
Burbank's experiments. 

Complete, delivered, they will be sold as low as $25. for the set, on terms as low 
as 50 cents a week, whenever necessary. 



Think of the farmers who invest thousands of dollars in farm machinery in order 
to add ten per cent to their crops. 

While these books, without other investment, will enable them to increase their 
crops in the same ratio that the Burbank potato increased the potato crop. 

Think of the farmers who spend hundreds of dollars for pianos and organs, pho- 
nographs and other musical instruments merely to while their evenings away. 

While these books for $25. will enable them to solve the real problems that 
embarrass them now and threaten them in the future. 

In fact, farmers even now everywhere spend more than this small amount in 
their search for reading matter that will help them — farm papers and other reading 
matter which, for the lack of a Burbank, must limit itself to commonplaces. 

Would the farmer invest $25. to make his 80 acres produce as much as 160 with 
no more labor rather than pay for another 80 acres and double the labor? 





^'tet. ^' 




Page eighteen 



And that, in a measure applies to anyone interested in the cultivation of the soil — 
from the truckgardener and his profit point of view to the country magnate with an 
eye for landscape beauty, the scope of Burbank's researches is universal. 

Aside from the set of five books, the numerous monograph books, each deal- 
ing with a specific subject of interest to the farmer, will range in price from 25 
cents up — within everybody's reach. 



To quote from Mr. Burbank's own manuscript: 

"New creations in plant-life will not only produce a renewed interest in agricul- 
tural and horticultural matters, and in all outdoor life, but they will make it possible 
to produce far greater results with the same amount of labor and capital. A life in 
the open air, among plants, near to Nature's heart, gives one health and self-respect, 
as well as physical endurance and mental integrity — for the highest intellectual 
advancement can be combined with the occupations of the soil. 

"The forthcoming volumes are for the people, not for the scientific investigator, 
and I hope to tell the facts in a plain, matter-of-fact way which will be understood 
by everybody, and especially by the young, in whom I now see a greater interest in 
nature studies and farm-life than ever before. 

"New fruits, nuts, grains, vegetables, coffee, tea, spice — rubber, oil, paper, and 
perfume plants — such as man has never yet seen — will be produced in greatly supe- 
rior forms with the precision achieved by the artist, chemist or mechanic. Does 
this mean — do you ask — anything for the human race? 

"Yes, in the hands of the plant-breeder rests the future destiny of all mankind." 




Page nineteen 




Editorial Department Oscar E. BInner Company — Luther Burbank's Publishers— Santa Rosa, Cal. 




Luther Burbank School, Santa Rosa, Cal. 



'age twenty 




Halt sweet, half sour apple. 




Pineapple Quince Trees — 

two years old bearing marketable fruit. 



Chestnut Seedling, six months old bearing nuts. 
It takes the ordinary tree about fifteen years to reach this 
stage. 



Lulher Burbank Series. 
opYiisht, Oscar E, Binner Co.... 



rage twenty-one 



,'*t| 




^itti^ fit ^^hrit:^htx 

EXECUTIVE OFFICE 

Lincoln, Nebr., Apr. 27, 1911. 



Mr. Osoar E. Binner, 
Chioa)-;o, 111* 

Desr Sir:— 

I notioe that your Company is undertaking the 
Publioation of Luther Burtank's experiences and results in 
intensified fariu-ing. 

Thomas Carlyle once said, "The history of a natioj 
is the biography of its great men". 

And it can with equal truth be said that the 
history of agriculture in this country for the past forty 
years is the biography of Luther Burbank» 

Agriculture is the basis of civilisation and to no 
man does agriculture owe so much as it does to Luther Burbank, 

A man of the highest order of constructive genius, 
he has devoted his talents to the betterment of his fellow-man 
unselfishly. 

And lir. Binner, it is to be hoped that through 
you, as a publisher, tiia world will be able to learn Burbank 's 
invaluable lessons. I should prize this book as among 
the choicest books in my library and will be delighted to 
^et it. 

Wishing you the deserved success in your undertaking 
i am, 

Yours truly, 




Governor. 



age twenty- two 



EXECUTIVE OEPARTMCNt 



April 28, 1911. 

Mr.. Oscar E.Binner, 

Sixth Floor American Trust Bldg., 

Chicago, Illinois. 

Mr dear Mr. Binner:-- 

In response to your favor of the 25th 
inst., I have to say, in "brief, that the value of 
the work which luther Burhank has done for humanity 
and the world is heyond estimate. 

A wide dissemination throughout the 
various lands of the universe of the knowledge which 
he has gained through his marvelous experiments would 
indeed add much to the lives of many and it is to he 
hoped that this may he accomplished. 

AS long as the world is peopled, as long 
as there is soil to till and flowers to hloom, so long 
will the work of Burbank continue to live. 

Thanking you for the courtesy of your 
letter, I am, with kind personal regards, 

Very truly yours. 




Governor of Sout 




Page t\venty-thre( 





Cobless Corn 

The elimination of the cob 

increases the 

quantity of kernels. 



Luther Butbank Series. 




Santa Rosa Rose 

awarded special Gold Medal at the 
St. Louis Exposition. 








.^ii 




.^%p W 



■'^ 






36 Seedlings of "Williams Favorite" Apple 
showing the usual variations among the fruit of 
the same tree. 



Lulher Burbank Series. 
pyrigKt, Oscar £. Binner Co. 



Page twenty-five 



STATE OF WASHINGTON 

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 
OLYMPIA 



May 10, 1911. 



Mr. Oscar E. Birmer, 
American Trust Building, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

Dear Sir:- 

Your letter of April 25, requesting an opinion from me 
concerning the publication of Luther Burbank'B metJiodE and discov- 
eries, was received during my absence from the capital, and I now 
hasten to reply thereto upon my return. 

The value of Luther BurbarJc's work to humanity is beyond 
estimate, end the publication of his methods and disooveries in popu- 
lar form should prove an enduring blessing to mankind. 

The conservation of ovir natural resources is an idea that 
hae captured the imagination and enlisted the sympathy of the people 
of this country. The movement has developed so far into a program 
for the preservation from monopoly and waste of timber, coal and water) 
the chief sources from which are secured for man the comforts and lux- 
uries of life. Heretofore, too little heed has been paid to the con- 
sei^ation of our food supply, upon which civilization Itself depends. 
Luther Burbank has gone lo the root of this problem in his great work 
and has accomplished more of praotic al , immediate and lasting good 
than all the zealous theorists of the land combined. He has discov- 
ered methods of making land, formerly considered desert and worthless, 
produce nutritious and profitable crops. He has demonstrated how the 
soil can be made to yield in greater abimdance than ever before under 
less scientific cultivation. In this way he has helped to solve the 

froblem of providing for the ever increasing population without lorer- 
ng the standard of living and retarding the progress of civilization. 
Once people realize that health, happiness and profit can be obtained 
through the cultivation of small farms in thickly settled communities 
where all the gregarious tendencies of mankind are provided for as com- 

fletely as in the urban centers, the problem of how to got men back to 
he soil will be solved, and Luther Burbank has dlB covered tte methods 
that will bring about that condition. 

Trusting this will meet the purpose of yoia* request, I am 
Very truly yoii^s.^ ^ ^ ^^ 

Governor of Wasnington. 




age twenty-six 



HOKE SMITH 
J. J. HASTINGS 
MARION SMITH 
RONALO RANSOM 

WALTER O. MARSHBURN 



LAW OFFICES 
SMITH. HASTINGS & RANSOM. 

707-714 PETERS BUILDING 
ATLANTA. GA. 



April 29th, 1911. 



Mr. Osoar E. Binner, 

Amerioan Trust Building, 
Chioago, Illinois. 



Dear Sir: 

I learn with great pleasure that Mr. Luther Burbank has 
decided to publish his methods and discoveries in popular form 
so that they oan be used with profit by the ordinary farmer. 

I oannot express myself too strongly in oommendation of 
the great service that Mr, Burbank has already rendered. If he 
is able to oarry knowledge of his methods to those engaged in 
agricultural pursuits so that even in part fhey may be generally 
used, it will be a benediotion to the human race. 

Upon the soil tiller we depend not only for food and the 
raw material necessary for raiment, but for nearly all that goes 
to build a people and a nation. Service to them is service to 
every one. 

Again assuring you how much I appreciate the proposed 
publication, I remain, 

Very respectfully yours, 




^Huou^ 



Governor of Georgia. 



Page twenty-seven 




OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT. 

February 23rd, 1911. 
Dear Sir; 

I have reoGived your letter of the 15th instant in regard 
to the proposed publication of the methods and discoveries of Luther 
Burbank and desire to say in reply that I believe that suoh a 
publication as you are about to initiate would prove of immense 
national benefit. 

I am, dear Sir, 

Faithfully yours, 



Ur. Oscar E. Binner, 
American Trust Building, 
Chicago, Illinois. 



^CA^i^tUhJ^rtz^ 



President , 



. Shawkev 

STATE SUP8RINTEN 



State; ofWest Virginia 

Department of Free Schools 

Charleston 



February 18, 1911. 
Ir. Csoar E. Binnsr. 

€th Floor. 'Amerionn ITrust Biiilding, 
Chic; go. 111. 
)ear Sir:- 

I have before ne your letter of Febmarjr 15th in -regard to the 
rork of Luther 3urbanlc. I v/ill say that I believe no man in America has 
;he public ear and p\iblio confidence to a greater extent that does Luther 
Jurbanis:. IThe story of his acconplishme'nts would not only ar>-neal to the 
strictly soientific mind, but especially to those who work \7ith their hands. 
Therefore I believe you will be doing the country a great service by puttini 
;he results of his labors in the reach of the public. 

Very truly yours , 



M/D 



If Kg^fe^ 



Page twenty-eight 



W H UNDERWOOD. Phee 



JAS VILES. Vice Pres 



E M MOORE, Secretary. 



THE UNDERWOOOaVILES COLD STORAGE CO 




WHOLESALE FRU ITS. VEGETABLES. EGGS. 
GENERALCOLD STORAGE, APPLE GROWERS. 

OPERATING 

UN DE R WOOD ORCHAR O. VI LE S ORCHARD 

THE HOT HOUSE VEGETABLE CO. 

MEDORA CATALPA PLANTATION 



CO DES : 

REVIS ED 
EC O NO M V 
SAK E R S - 
NEW CITRUS 
MODERN ECOh 



HUTCHINSON. KANSAS. -/f^^i^^ ^ -Z^ / ^ ^^ 











Page twenty-nine 




The Wonderful Hybrid Plum at the right and its tiny patent at the left. Both natural size. 




Improved Everlasting Flower. 



Luther Burbank Series. 



Page thirty 




Thorny Cactus— a useless growth on nearly three billion acres of waste land. 




Thornless Cactus and Fruit produced by Luther Burbank. Will produce 200 tons of food per acre, 
or 2000 pounds of carbohydrate convertible into 3000 gallons of denatured alcohol worth about $ 1 ,200, as 
against $32. per acre of corn. 



Luther Butbank Series. 

r^vnoKt Osrar F. RInner Co. 



OFFICE OF THE 
PRESIDENT 



Page thirty-one 



®bto fiottbern lUntverstt^ 



Ada. Ohio 



Ada, Ohio, Feb. 16, 1911. 



Vr. Oeoar E. Blimer^ 

Chioago, 111* 
My dear Mr. B inner: 

I think you can do no larger service for 
the country than to print and distribute the 
treasures of work and thought produced by Luther 
Burbanl:. We are starting an Agricultural College in 
connection with our university this spring, and be- 
lieve that one of the vital questions before the 
nation is the raising of better harvests and the in- 
crease of food so that the best living may be with- 
in reach of the poorest man. I heartily commend your 
effort and wish yon great success in bringing out 
the publication. 

Sincerely yours. 



AES-0W8 




President, 



'age thirty-two 




FACTORY.SOUTH BEND IND USA. 



ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO US ANB NOT TO ANV INDIVIDUAL OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE. 



CHILLED a STEEL WALKING & RIDING PLOWS. 



tyrc^'^j^Ck^^^^&irJ. Feb . - 16 , 1 91 1 . 



Mr. Oscar E. Binner, Preet., 

American Trust Building, 
Chicago, 111. 
Dear Sir:- 

I have received and read with much interest your 
letter of February 15th. I consider the work of Luther 
Burbank one of the really great achievements of the pres- 
ent century. The man who by his genius adds to the yield 
and quality of food products is entitled to the lasting 
gratitude and esteem of all civilization, and Luther Bur- 
bank is the man who has accomplished this beneficent act. 

His triumphs in the manipulation and betterment 
of plant life speeik for themselves and i-^ is my sincere 
hope that a knowledge of his methods and discoveries may 
be placed within the reach of all.. 

Very truly yours, 

EN:-JD. 




Page thirty-three 




Mr. Burbank pollinating milkweed. A mosi delicate operation. 




Shasta Daisy 

Natural size and color. 



Luther Burbank Series. 



'age thirty-four 



Strange form 

developed in crossing seedling lilies. 






French Prune at the left, Burbank 
Sugar Prune at the right, showing com- 
parative sizes when cured. About two-thirds 
natural size. In i 890 thirty-five million pounds 
of prunes were imported into the United States, 
none exported. At present only about 500,000 
pounds a year are imported and over fifty million 
pounds a year exported. These figures will give 
an idea of the amount of wealth annually added to 
this country since the introduction of the Burbank 
Prunes. 



Luther Burbank Series. 



The Chicago Public Library 

BOARD OF DtRECtORS 

ROBERT J ROULSTON. Phes 

GEORGC a ARMSTRONG.Vicc P'RCS 

GRAHAM TAYLOR C DWARD A B LOD GE Tf 

JULIUS STERN FREDERICK H RAWSONf 

ANTONIO LAOORlO MORT IME R F RAN K 

MENRYV FREEMAN 

HARRV G.WILSON. SCCRCTARv 
HENRY e LEGLER UiBRASiAN 



Page thirty-flve 



Mr. Oscar E. Binner, Chicago, January 16, ISli. 

PubliBher, ionerican Trust Building, 
Chicago . 
Ijy dear I^T. Binner :-- 

My thanke are due you for your kindness and 
courtesy in showing to Dr . Frank and myself the interesting exhibit 
of material which will la,ter become a part of Luther Burfcs.nk'p works. 
Unquestionably the proposed puoiicexion v/iii oe awaited with eagerness 
by the general public and will be welcomed to the shelves of the public 
libraries of the country. Judging from what you have shown me the pub- 
lication will be a real contribution to knowledge. 

Yours truly, 





BUELC ANDRF-WS 

DANFOHTH E.AINSWORTH/ COMMISSIONERS 

JOHN J.MCCALL ' 



BOARD OF EDUCATION 

albany;n.y: 

February 17, 1911. 



Osoar E. Binner, 

American Trust Building, 
Chioago, 111* 
Dear Sir:- 

1 am confident that the "broadoast publication" of 
Luther Burbank's Reoords,^ "in aooesslble form and plain language" would 
be a blessing to all mankind. 



Very truly yours 



Supt .of Schools • 



Page thirty-six 



\M£8 W. SCARSON. A.M.. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR 

ADA Rice. o.a.. ikstructor 

ANNETTC LEONARD, a. B., instructor 

Flora Knioht, a.b.. assistant 



Clark M. Brgnk. ph. o.. professor - 

DEAN of the COLLESE. ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIO 



A^rtrtdtural CUall^g? 



Sr|iartB»nt of Eiigitaif t a a g nag? anb £it»ratttr» 



LOUI3 H. BEALL, A.B.. AaSlCTANT PROFESSOR 
CHARLAINC FURLEV. A.B.. ASSISTANT 

Egtella M. Boot. A.m., Assistant 
Nelson a. Crawporo. a.b.. assistant 



Manhattan. Kansas. Feb. 17| 1911 

Oscar E.Binner Co., 
Chicago, 111. 

Gentleraen:- 

It may well be doubted whether there is a man in America 
to-day who ia doing more for the welfare and happiness of mankind than 
Luther Burbank,! have known something of his work indirectly for a number 
of years, and the more I have learned the more confident I have become 
that he is entitled to be counted as not only one of the geniuses of 
our time but as one of the benefactors of the race. It seems to n-e that all 
the gold taken from California's mines cannot equal in value the con- 
tributions made to human comfort by that modest investigator in Cali- 
fornia's gardens. He is doing much to make this world increasingly a 
desirable place of residence. 

Dean of the Colle.'^e . 



Page thirty-seven 




Seedlings from Chilian Wild Potatoes. 




Second Generation Seedlings from Chilian Wild Potatoes. Plate 1 inches across. 



Page thirty-eight 



ymm^' 




Red Seedless Grape of unusual sweetness and productiveness. 



I ....L— D...U._L c. 



Page thirty-nine 



OFFICERS, 1910 I I 
WILLIAM OXLEY THOMPSON 

President Ohio Slate University 
CoUimbus, Ohio 

Vice-President 
WILLIAM LOWE BRYAN 

President Indiana University 
Bloominglon. Ind. 

ex-OFFicio Vice-President 
ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN 

U. S. Commissioner of Education 
Washington, D. C. 



NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

OF 

STATE UNIVERSITIES 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

The President, Vice-President, 
Secretary of the Association 

FRANKLIN BENJAMIN QAULT 

President University of South 

Daliota 

Vermillion, S. D. 

J. NEWTON TILLMAN 

President University of Arkansas 
Fayetteville, Ark. 



Secretarv-Theasurer 

guy potter benton 

President Miami University 

Oxford, Ohio 



Oxford, Ohio, 

February sixteenth 
nineteen eleven. 
My dear Mr, Binner:- 

To my mind Mr, Luther Burbank is 
one of the greatest benefactors the human race has ever 
known. Personally, I shall be glad to see hia obser- 
vations, theories and oonclusione put in popular form so 
that as text books the children of the rising generation 
may be benefited thereby. 

You are undertaking a patriotic 
task in which I wish you the largest measure of success. 



Cordially your friend. 




V 




'aU^^rsaoR^ Feb. 18. 1911. 

Oscar E. Binner, 
Am. Trust Bldg., 
CMoago, 111. 

Dear Sir: — 

I regard Luther Burbank as one of the greatest public bene- 
faotors that has ever lived. His method of work should be known 
to all — should be put in such form and placed on sale at such price 
that all who are interested may be reliably injformed. 

Long after Mr. Carnegie's public libraries have crumbled to 
dust and Mr, Carnegie's name forgotten, Mr. Burbank *s work will bo 
blessing millions. 

Very re spec 




Pres. 



Page fortr 



PURDUE UNIVERSITY 

TPINTHROP BI1.I.SWORTH STOMB, P>. D. I^I. !>■• 



DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOO'S' 
fiTAKLBT OOUl/rSlRi Pa. D., Dbah or SoBOOL or SoiBKoai 

J>lXB<7TOK or XjABORATOST. 

JOSEPH O. ARTHUR* D* So., Pl^Ajrr PBTBIOIAOT akd Patboloot 

SBVBRA170E1 BURRAQEl. Pb. D.. Saitztabt Soibnob 

HOWARD BJ* E]NT>BRS, PH. D., Zooix>OT 

OX4IVEIR P. TBRRT** M. D., Pbtsioloot ami> Anatoht 

OBOROS N. HOE*FfilR, B. S,. lNBTaD<7TOB 

B*« J, BRBBZB. B* 8., iMftTBDOTOB 



EjAfatettis. umiAnrA. 



PeDruary 16, 1911, 



Mr. Oscar E. Binner, 

Chicago, Illinois 
Dear Sir:- 

Your letter of recent date relative to a proposed 
publication in popular form of The Methods and Work of 
Luther Bur bank has been received. 

In my opinion no more important publication could 
be made than one which would bring to the people at large 
in a clear cut and definite way some idea of the results 
of Mr. Bur bank's work and also of the methods which he 
has employed to bring about those results. 

Such a publication vvould be important not only 
from an economic standpoint but also in that it would in- 
dicate to people working with plants the possibilities that 
Itey in their skillful handling. 



Very trulj' yours. 



Page forty-one 




Branch of Improved Beach Plum. 



3-/^ feet long 



showing enormous productiveness. 




More than ten thousand 



kinds of plums 



are growing 



in these two rows. 



Lulher Butbank Series. 



V-.ric forty-two 



Burbank Pears 



Fully four times 



as productive 



as the Bartlett. 



r- 



Stoneless Plums 




I .uther Burbank Seiies. 



Page forty-three 



Ct?e 5taie Xlmoer^ity of -3 otoa 



February 16,1911 



Dear Sir; 



In reply to your request of February 15th, I 
beg to say that for a long time I and many other educators 
have desired that the miracles of Mr.Burbank might be 
reocrdad in authentic form. If now a reputable publishing 
house has gained his consent and the proper editors will 
furnish the material, the enterprise will be 9f great worth 
to the educational as well as to the practical world. 
I shall be happy to receive a copy of "Luther' Burbank's 
Bounties". 



Truly yours J 



Q^.Jt^^^c^ 



p 

Chicago, 111, 



STr. Oscar G. Dinner, „ ,^ 

' President. 



WILLIAM M.SLATON 

SUPT. SCHOOLS 
ATLANTA, QEORGrA 

Feb IS, 1911 
Hon. Oscar B. Sinner. 

American Trust Building, 

Chicago, 111* 

My dear Mr. Binner:- 

I regard the wise and disoriainating 

publication of Ur. Luther Burbank's achievements as 

an act of marvelous benefit to mankind. 

I should like very much to have the 

privilege of reading such a work - 

Very truly yours, 




"Vvv^^S L-^>fe=^x__ 



8. V V7 ' Supt. Schools. 



Page forty-four 



ANTHOHY DONOVAN, PnmDCNT 
O. S. NOR9MAN, SECRCTART 

n. a.-DUOoeoH. supcmNmnniT 



The Public Schools 

MADISON. WISCONSIN 



OPnce OP SUPEIUNTENDeNT 



PeTa. 16, 1911. ^ 

Mr. Osear E. Binner, 

American Trust Building, Chicago, Illinois* 
Wy dear Sir: 

In compliance with your request under date of Feb- 
ruary 15th I will say that I can conceive of no enter- 
prise or movement which will tend, more to improve the 
material condition of the people of our own country than 
the publication in a poplar form and at a reasonable 
price of the methods and processes used by Luther Bur- 
bank in his great work* These publications will have 
greatly increased value because of the fact that they 
are taken, from Burbank's own record and brought out un* 
der his own Supervision. 



CR. ^.^Cuudcf^^^&u^ i 



Page forty-five 




^li^^S*^ 




Ordinary Blackberry branch on the left. Improved Thomless branch on the right. 




Ordinary Tools used by Mr. Burbank. 



Lulher Burbank Series. 



Page forty-six 



Cactus Pears 



>Iatural size and color 



^s juicy as a ripe watermelon, with the flavor of pine- 
pple. Usually sold at the same price as oranges 
ithough produced at much less expense and there 
an never be a crop failure. 

i! This fruit can be made into delicious jams, jellies 
pd syrups. Paint mixed with its juice lasts regardless 
f exposure to weather. The juice of the crimson 
ariety is a pure, unadulterated, permanent coloring 
jr other food products. 



hirty full sized cactus pears growing on one leaif 
■velve inches wide. 





Luther Burbank Se 



Page forty-seven 



Doubleday, Page & Co., Publishers The World's 
Work, Country Life in America, The Garden Magazine, 
Garden City, Long Island, N. Y. 

"It must be a great privilege to be instrumental in 
giving to the world the work of such a man as 
Luther Burbank, and as a fellow publisher I con- 
gratulate you that you are to be that instrument. 
Most certainly the Works of Burbank will be re- 
ceived with great interest by the country. You are 
engaged in a tremendously important publishing en- 
terprise, and be sure that you have our best wishes 
for large financial returns." 

HERBERT S. HOUSTON, 

Vice-President. 

Houghton-Mifflin & Co., Boston, Mass. 

"We are thoroughly alive to the tremendous im- 
portance of Burbank's work, and can foresee the 
keen interest with which an account of it will be 
received by the public." 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 

Curtis Publishing Co., Ladies Home Journal, 
Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia, Pa. 

"There is a world-wide interest in Mr. Burbank's 
methods, and if he proposes placing the facts before 
the world in book form I have no doubt it will be a 
profitable enterprise." 

CYRUS H. K. CURTIS, 

President. 

The Century Co., New York. 

"The products of California are less wonderful 
than the plants which Mr. Burbank has made. He 
is a great genius." 

CENTURY MAGAZINE. 

Carnegie Institute, Washington, d. c. 

"It is my deliberate opinion that Burbank's dis- 
coveries will return five times the endowment of 
the Carnegie Institute, which is ten million dollars." 

ROBT. S. WOODWARD, 

President. 

Georgetown University, Washington, o. c. 

"As the material prosperity of nations is meas- 
ured by the quantity of food they produce, so must 
be measured the greatness of the benefactions of 
Luther Burbank, and according to the measure of 
their greatness is the need of their being made the 
people's heritage by widespread publicity." 

JOSEPH HIMMEL, 

President. 

State of Missouri, Dept. of Education. 

"Thomas A. Edison has harnessed and controlled 
ONE of Nature's forces, but Luther Burbank has 
harnessed even Nature herself and has thereby made 
man happier." 

C. A. GREEN, 
Inspector of High Schools. 

Ohio University, Athens. 

"Command my help whenever my service can in 
any way promote the cause in which you are inter- 
ested." 

ALSTON ELLIS, 
President. 

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

"If he is a benefactor to humanity who makes two 
blades of grass to grow where one grew before, it 
is difficult to estimate the degree in which Mr. Bur- 
bank is such a benefactor. What this country needs 
today, more than any other of a material kind, is 



better methods of agriculture in all its forms. I hope 
you will give to the people as widely as possible, and 
as simply as possible, the information upon Mr. Bur- 
bank's methods." 

S. B. McCORMICK, 
Chancellor. 

State of Utah, Dept. of Public Instruction. 

"I cannot too highly commend your proposition, as 
I firmly believe that books containing the informa- 
tion and results so skillfully wrung from Nature by 
this wonderful man will be a most valuable contri- 
bution to the world." 

A. C. NELSON, 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

University of California. 

"No one can tell to what ends of profit Luther 
Burbank's enterprises may attain. They seem to 
have the world for their field, and the people of the 
world know him as perhaps they do not know any 
other single man on the planet. Any one with a 
grain of common sense can see what a world-beating 
commercial advantage adheres to his proposition." 

E. J. WICKSON, 
Dean Agricultural College and Director Experiment 
Stations. 

Tufts College, Massachusetts. 

"Nothing can be of more importance that the de- 
velopment of improved processes of agriculture. I 
know none who have obtained more remarkable 
results than Luther Burbank, and I think it of the 
utmost importance that his methods and processes 
should be made known as widely as possible to the 
people of the United States." 

FREDERICK W. HAMILTON, 

President. 

Board of Education, St. Louis, Mo. 

"It is of very great importance that an account of 
Luther Burbank's work be published in such form as 
will be within the reach of the very great number of 
people who are intensely interested in the develop- 
ment of forms of vegetable life." 

BEN BLEWETT, 
Superintendent of Instruction. 

Board of Education, Elizabeth, N. j. 

"If the result of his researches, wide and varied 
experience, together with his counsel, could be made 
available for all mankind the resulting good should 
exceed that produced by any teacher of men, the 
great Nazarene alone excepted." 

RICHARD E. CLEMENT, 
Superintendent of Public Schools. 

The University of Oklahoma. 

"I am glad that you are to publish in thoroughly 
popular form the account of Luther Burbank's won- 
derful work. The advantage of this publication is 
not merely in the fact that it will reveal secrets of 
increased production to multitudes to whom such 
knowledge means increase of wealth, but that it will 
ultimately do more for inspiring others to work with 
the spirit of devotion that has made Mr. Burbank's 
work so valuable." 

A. GRANT EVANS, 

President. 

Board of Education, Sidney, Ohio. 

"In my opinion Luther Burbank is pre-eminently 
the greatest benefactor that the Omnipotent Creator 
has given us in this generation." 

HERBERT R. McVAY, 
Superintendent of Public Schools. 



I forty-eight 



Brigham Young College, Logan, Utah. 

"No agriculturist, horticulturist or florist can afford 
to be without them; in fact, no one claiming any 
sympathy with world's progress can be excused." 
JAMES M. LINFORD, 
President. 

State or Illinois, Educational Commission. 

"It is gratifying to know that the practical results 
of the work of Mr. Burbank are now to be brought 
to the people themselves." 

R. E. HIERONYMUS, 
Secretary. 

Alabama Educational Association, 

Annitton. 

"Making Mr. Burbank's work accessible to the 
general public is a real service to the country and 
must result in accomplishing much good." 

DAVID R. MURPHY, 
Chairman. 

Pacific University, Forest Grove, Ore. 

"Luther Burbank has added marvelously to the 
agricultural wealth of the country. He is entitled 
to the lasting gratitude of his fellowmen. I am glad 
to know that it is proposed to publish a record of the 
work of Luther Burbank." 

WM. N. FERRIN, 
President. 

Board of Education, Dover, N. H. 

"Luther Burbank has done as much for mankind 
as the greatest inventors. It would be a great pleas- 
ure to read of his entire work and discoveries." 
A. H. KEYES, 
Superintendent of Schools. 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Depart- 
ment of Public Instruction. 

"I consider Luther Burbank a genius whose ori- 
ginal work deserves to be known by all tillers of the 
soil." NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER, 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

State House, Providence, R. I. 

"The startling achievements of Luther Burbank at 
first seemed the work of a wizard, but when his real 
service to mankind is discerned he will be known as 
a great public benefactor." 

WALTER E. RANGER, 
State Commissioner of Schools. 

Cotner University, Bethany, Nebr. 

"I am glad Luther Burbank's 'Victories of Peace' 
are to receive the attention they richly deserve." 
W. P. ALYSWORTH, 
Chancellor. 

Southern Educational Association, 

Lexington, Ky. 

"I know of nothing that will be of greater or more 
lasting benefit to society than a broad reading and 
discussion of Luther Burbank's ways and means of 
making two blades of grass grow where one grew 
before." M. A. CASSIDY, 

President. 

Board of Education, Engiewood, N. J. 

"Luther Burbank is in the field of agricultural 
production what Edison is in the field of invention. 
The publication of his methods should be of very 
great value to mankind." 

ELMER C. SHERMAN, 
Superintendent of Schools. 



State Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 
lege, Tallahassee, Fla. 

"I am particularly glad that you are to publish 
something from Luther Burbank's pen to enlighten 
the world in better methods of plant production." 
F. H. CARDOZO, 
State Agriculturist. 

Michigan State Teachers Association. 

"Luther Burbank is known the world over as the 
greatest contributor toward the improvement of 
plant life. It will be of very great value to this same 
v/orld to know more in detail of the wonders that 
he has accomplished." 

JOHN P. EVERETT, 

Secretary. 

University of Missouri, Columbia. 

"I have the highest opinion of the value of Luther 
Burbank's work, and should be very glad to see his 
methods and achievements brought within easy 
reach of the people-at-large through adequate pub- 
lication." R. H. JESSE, 

President. 

Luther College, New Orleans, La. 

"The publication and distribution of Luther Bur- 
bank's methods will result in contributing more 
wealth direct to the people's purses than the greatest 
invention of any age. It will be a blessing to man- 
kind." R. A. WILDE, 

President. 

University of South Dakota, Vermillion. 

"The knowledge of Luther Burbank's great work 
is valuable to the multitude and will stimulate many 
another soul to similar achievements. Certainly the 
world should know more about Burbank and what 
he has done for the race." 

FRANKLIN B. GAULT, 

President. 

University of Arizona, Tucson. 

"Luther Burbank has doubtless inspired many 
private individuals to work in plant breeding whose 
results will ripen to bless the Nation after Mr. Bur- 
bank himself has long passed away." 

GEO. F. FREEMAN, 
Plant Breeder. 

Washington College, Chestertown. 

"If people generally, and particularly those who 
grow the crops, could learn more definitely the 
methods of this man who has made two blades grow 
where one grew before, I am sure it would be better 
for them and all mankind." JAS. W. CAIN, 

President. 

Experiment Station, Kansas State Agri- 
cultural College, Hays. 

"In the event a proper treatise of Burbank's ac- 
complishment can be given to the world, no amount 
of physical exertion nor financial outlay should deter 
the preparation and distribution of so great a boon 
as it will undoubtedly prove to humanity." 

GEO. K. HELDER, 
Assistant Superintendent and Secretary. 

Norwich University, Northfieid, vt. 

"The story of Luther Burbank's accomplishments 
is a high incentive to emulation, and a detailed ac- 
count of his methods should be of immeasurable 
value to the Nation." 

CHAS. H. SPOONER, 
President. 



Page forty-nine 



Agricultural and Mechanical College of 

Texas, College Station. 

"Luther Burbank is a great man and his work will 
live to bless future generations." 

ROBERT T. MILNER, 
President. 

University of Utah, Salt Lake City. 

"Luther Burbank has given more to the world in 
the way of new plants than any other man that has 
lived. I predict for his books remarkable success." 
WM. STEWART, 
Principal, State Normal School. 

Virginia Union University, Richmond. 

"It would be a large contribution to the pleasure 
and the interest of men if the methods of Mr. Luther 
Burbank could be described and made accessible to 
all." GEORGE RICE HOVEY, 

President. 

Board of Education, Vancouver, Wash. 

"If Luther Burbank should die without having 
put into available form the results of his years of 
sacrifice and toil, the world would be a great loser. 
A personally supervised record of his methods and 
discoveries will certainly be of unusual value." 
C. W. SHUMWAY, 
Superintendent of Schools. 

State Educational Commission, Columbia,s.c. 

"The proposed books dealing with the work and 
discoveries of Luther Burbank will prove a bene- 
faction to many people." 

J. E. SWEARINGEN, 
State Superintendent of Education. 

College of Idaho, Caldwell. 

"Don't let this great benefactor die without will- 
ing his wonderful knowledge of plant life to the 
world. Just to think of Burbank is an inspiriation." 
W. J. BOONE, 

President. 



Southwestern Presbyterian University, 

Clarksville, Tenn. 

"I think Luther Burbank's achievements to be of 
the highest scientific and practical value and of great 
general interest." WM. DINWIDDIE, 

Chancellor. 

Normal University, Las Vegas, New Mex. 

"The publication of the results of Luther Bur- 
bank's experiments should mark an era in the world's 
history." FRANK H. H. ROBERTS, 

President. 

Columbia University, New York City. 

"Luther Burbank has had the genius to look at 
things as if no ether human being had ever seen 
them before, and from his keen vision rich benefits 
to humanity have accrued." 

RAYMOND WEEKS. 

North- Western College, NaperviUe, in. 

"Luther Burbank's discoveries touch the very 
foundations of modern civilization and point the 
way to still greater progress in the near future. The 
mastery of the resources of Nature becomes more 
and more an assured accomplishment because of the 
life and labors of Luther Burbank." 

H. J. KIEKHOEFER. 

Stanford University, Palo Alto, Cai. 

"Luther Burbank has helped mankind by increas- 
ing enormously the economic values of plant-life." 
DAVID STARR JORDAN, 
President. 

University of Montana, Missoula. 

"If the knowledge of what Luther Burbank has 
been doing can be generally diffused it will certainly 
benefit the world at large." 

C. A. DUNIWAY, 
President. 



Connecticut Agricultural College, storrs. Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 



"The publication of Luther Burbank's methods 
and achievements will be a valuable contribution to 
agriculture and science." 

CHAS. L. BEACH, 

President. 



"Mr. Burbank's work is of the very greatest value 
practically, and has suggested and even solved many 
problems that were impossible before." 

G. STANLEY HALL, 
President. 



State Agricultural College, Fort Collins, Coio. g^^rd of Education, Duiuth. Mi, 



"The entire Nation is deeply interested in his 
work. All of us are waiting for him to tell how he 
does things. His publication will be productive of 
more good than we can estimate." 

CHAS. A. LORY, 
President. 

State Board of Education, w. Va. 

"As a discoverer, if not a creator, of food plants 
Luther Burbank has done more to lower the cost of 
living and to enrich the common people than all the 
legislation of the last twenty years. We have but 
one Luther Burbank." U. S. FLEMING, 

Secretary. 



"The people of America, and of the world, would 
be greatly benefited by a knowledge of his methods 
employed to secure the wonderful results that have 
been achieved by him." R. E. DENFELD, 

Superintendent of Schools. 

Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical 

College, Agricultural College. 

"Any plan that would result in making Luther 
Burbank's methods and processes known to the 
people-at-large is of great importance to the whole 
country." J. C. HARDY, 

President. 



Oklahoma State Educational Association, State Normal School, Valley City, N. D. 



Oklahoma City. 

"The world owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Bur- 
bank for the marvelous service he is rendering to 
man." J. B. TAYLOR, 

President. 

State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis. 

"Mr. Luther Burbank is a National asset not only 
because of his economic contribution to our phys- 
ical welfare, but also because of the intellectual in- 
spiration he has been to thousands." 

CHARLES McKENNY, 

President. 



"You are rendering the world a great service in 
making it possible for the people to know of the 
wonderful accomplishments of Luther Burbank and 
his achievements, methods and processes." 

GEO. A. McFARLAND, 
President. 

Iowa State College of Agriculture, Ames. 

"A publication setting forth in practical and yet 
accurate manner the methods employed in securing 
Mr. Burbank's results would certainly be very valu- 
able." H. D. HUGHES, 
State Agriculturist. 



! fifty 



North Georgia Agricultural College, 

Dahlonega. 

"Any man who can enable the world to use what 
Luther Burbank knows will do a matchless service 
for mankind." G. R. GLENN, 

President. 

Virginia Christian College, Lynchburg, Va. 

"Mr. Burbank is a distinct blessing to the human 
race. His marvelous results have turned the atten- 
tion of thousands to agricultural pursuits, thereby 
not only relieving the congested and vice-producing 
condition of our cities, but giving the nation a larger 
class of sturdy, royal, self-contented, self-sustaining 
freemen incapable of being used as tools for political 
and finarictS^^afters. The more that is known of 
Luther Birf^ufiS's methodaand achievements the bet- 
ter for the individual and the nation." 

J. HOPWOOD, 
President. 

University of Maine, Orono. 

"Luther Burbank's methods and success point the 
way to future possibilities that seem boundless in 
their significance. His record of wonderful achieve- 
ment will bestow upon the race a legacy of enduring 
and incalculable value." 

CHARLES DAVIDSON, 
Dean. 

State Agricultural School, Monticeiio, Ark. 

"Luther Burbank's work is the wonder of the plant 
world." FRANK HORSFALL, 

Principal. 

School of Agriculture, Purdue Univer- 
sity, Lafayette, Ind. 

"The publication of the works of Mr. Luther Bur- 
bank will be of great value to the world, and of great 
help to the great causes that are now moving to the 
betterment of mankind." CHAS. MAJOR, 

Chairman, Board of Trustees. 

Department of Public Instruction, State 
of North CaroHna. 

"The publication and wide distribution of Luther 

Burbank's own story of the results of his ingenious 

methods and processes is greatly to be desired to 

render an invaluable service to the masses of men." 

J. W.JOYNER, 

State Superintendent, Public, Instruction. 

Ft. Worth University, Ft. AVonh, Texas. 

"Permit me to express my sincere and profound 
appreciation of the genius and achievements of 
Luther Burbank. He ranks among the country's 
greatest benefactors and his triumphs over Nature 
have won for him immortality. May he live long, 
work hard, and witness even greater victory!" 

WILLIAM FIELDER, 

President. 

Executive Department, State of Minne- 
sota, St. Paul. 

"I consider that Mr. Luther Burbank's work has 
been of immeasurable value to the whole world." 
A. O. EBERHART, 
Governor. 



Governor's Office, Commonwealth of 

Virginia, Richmond. 

"The publication of what Luther Burbank has 
wrought and his methods will, in my opinion, be of 
the greatest benefit to the people of this country and 
indeed of the world, and he owes it to himself and 
the world to make the publication which he now 
contemplates." WM. HODGES MANN, 

Governor. 

Executive Department, State of Oregon, 

Salem. 

"Any publication which will tend to familiarize the 
people of the world with the work of Mr. Burbank 
will be of great value to mankind generally." 

OSWALD WEST, 
Governor. 

Executive Department, State of Califor- 
nia. 

"Burbank, like Columbus, has shown us the way to 
new continents, new forms of life, new sources of 
wealth, and we, following in his footsteps, will profit 
by and from his genius." 

GEO. C. PARDEE, 

Governor. 

"One need not be a farmer to be interested in 
farming. The work of a man like Luther Burbank 
appeals to an immense constituency." 

PROF. L. H. BAILEY, 
In the "World's Work." 

University of Chi>:ago. 

"A complete account of the work of Luther Bur- 
bank should mark the beginning of a new epoch in 
agriculture." ROLLIN D. SALISBURY, 

f Dean. 

New Zealand, Australia. 

"We wish to have a permanent bound record of 
the origin of the wonderful creations which are build- 
ing up a lasting monument to Mr. Burbank in Aus- 
tralia." 

WHANGAREI FRUIT GROWERS ASSN. 

TrappistS Nursery, Dronkvlei, Natal, Africa. 

"Mr. Burbank's products enjoy a splendid reputa- 
tion in Africa and have added vastly to the native 
wealth." BALDWIN REINER. 

University of Amsterdam, Holland. 

"Luther Burbank is the greatest breeder of plants 
the world has ever known. The magnitude of his 
work excels anything that was ever done before, 
EVEN BY LARGE FIRMS IN THE COURSE 
OF GENERATIONS." 

DR. HUGO DE VRIES. 

Tokio, Japan. 

"Our public knows this great man's name and 
work and wishes to get his wonderful books in 
Japan." J. IKEDA & CO., 

Nurserymen. 



It would take volumes to reprint the commendations received by the 
Oscar E. Binner Company — Luther Burbank's Accredited Publishers — 
from all over the world in response to a brief and informal announce- 
ment of the forthcoming publication of Luther Burbank's Works. 



Kage niiy-one 




Luther Burbank at the ages of 10-15-20-35-50. 



Luther Burbank Series, 
r^rivriolil. Oicar E. Binner ( 



LBFe '12 






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